Voltes V


Chōdenji Machine Voltes V, popularly known simply as Voltes V is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation and Nippon Sunrise. It is the second installment of the Robot Romance Trilogy, which also includes Chōdenji Robo Combattler V and Tōshō Daimos. It is directed by Tadao Nagahama and produced by Yoshiyuki Tomino. It aired on TV Asahi from June 4, 1977 to March 25, 1978. Voltes V's themes all revolve around rebellion, specifically the French Revolution, and also social issues such as social stratification and racial discrimination.
Despite moderate success in Japan, the series was extremely popular in the Philippines, Cuba and Indonesia. In the United States, this super robot along with the other two aforementioned super robots first appeared in the late 1970s as a part of Mattel's Shogun Warriors line of imported toys.
An upcoming 2020 Filipino live-action television series adaptation, titled Voltes V: Legacy, is currently in pre-production under Philippine television network GMA, to be directed by Mark A. Reyes.

Plot

14,000 light-years from Earth in a stellar system in the Scorpio Cluster, lies the planet of Boazan, whose social system revolves around oligopolistic politics by the nobles and those with horns are considered noble and with high status while the hornless are more of slaves. But when La Gour is about to ascend to the throne and been exposed to be born without horns by hisambitious bastard cousin Zu Zambajil, he was enslaved by the empire. However, La Gour led a rebellion against the empire but his ragtag troops of former slaves were simply no match against the superior might of the Boazanian military. His desperate comrades sacrificed themselves in order for him to board their last remaining space saucer which led him to planet Earth. He was found wounded and unconscious near his ship's wreckage by a local woman, Mitsuyo Go who he later marries. Fearing Zambajil's interplanetary conquest ambitions, La Gour, who now goes by the name Professor Kentaro Go, collaborated with his wife as well as premier earth scientist Professor Hamaguchi and Earth International Defense Force commander General Oka to design and construct the ultimate defense against the potential incoming Boazanian invasion.
Ten years later, the Boazanians had finally invade Earth under the orders of Prince Heinell and launch their "beast fighters" all over the world, defeating most of the world's armed forces. In order to fight back and to honor Kentaro's wishes, Professor Hamaguchi had gather the three children of Kentaro: Kenichi, Daijiro and Hiyoshi alongside two new members: Ippei and Megumi at the fortress island base "Camp Big Falcon". As not an easy task, they were tasked to pilot Kentaro's latest creation and humanity's final hope: "Voltes V" in order to repel back the impending Boazanian invasion. While for the Go Siblings to find out the whereabouts and mysteries surrounding their father.

Characters

The Voltes Team

;Kenichi Go
;Ippei Mine
;Daijiro Go
;Hiyoshi Go
;Megumi Oka

Allies

;Professor Kentaro Go / Prince La Gour
;Professor Mitsuyo Go
;Professor Hamaguchi
;General Oka
;Professor Sakunji
;General Dange
;General Doir

The Boazanian Nobility

;Emperor Zu Zambajil
;Prince Heinel
;Ri Katherine
;Rui Jangal
;Zuhl
;Do Bergan
;General Gururu
;Duke Zaki

Development

Voltes V was produced by Toei Animation with animation from Sunrise and sponsorship from Popy for the toys. During the development of Voltes V, Nagahama originally conceived the series to be a sequel to Chōdenji Robo Combattler V and follows the event of the series after the finale before making it into a separate series. From Nagahama's memo, the series is originally meant to be titled "Granbuffer Ace" or "Chōdenji Robo V.Krieger". Both names are ultimately scrapped and it was renamed to Voltes V.
During the time of its development, NET TV has transitioned its name to TV Asahi during 1977. In a proposal from Popy in 1976, Voltes V was meant to have a Gun-like finisher attack but Sunrise and Toei wanted the actual attack for the toys to be changed. As such, it was changed to a sword gimmick, which is carried over to the mecha's "Heaven's Blade/Laser Blade" attack. At that time also in 1976, Nagahama was given creative direction on the series and used Stage combat as reference for the titular mecha's combat moves. As describing the story itself, the plot of the Go Sibling's search for their father were inspired from Taiga dramas as explained by Shoichi Taguchi, one of the animes that inspired him for the series plot was 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother and that he wanted the heroes to search for their father instead of a mother.
Akinori Watanabe, the previous director of Toei Company's Television Business Division was worried that the plot alone will be too depressing to viewers and wanted to avoid viewers crying all the time. In response to Watanabe's request, he created the rival character to the Go Siblings, Prince Heinel. Heinel himself was based on one of the actors in the world famous Takarazuka Revue. According to Kei Iijima, one of Toei's producers, that the brothers and Heinel will be rivals throughout the series until the final episode, in which he will be revealed to be related to them by blood but have a tragic end and redemption. He stated also that "This is because I wanted viewers to strongly elicit anger against various discriminations around them and to hate discrimination through this work and think about correcting them."
The final draft of the series was completed in March 1977, with the first episode was broadcast on June 4 of the same year. Shinya Sadamitsu and Yoshiyuki Tomino were brought to the staff by Nagahama for their roles as producer and art director. Kazuo Tomizawa was also brought in as one of the staff until he decided to focus more on Invincible Super Man Zambot 3.

Media

Anime

Voltes V was broadcast in Japan by TV Asahi from June 4, 1977 to March 25, 1978, replacing Chōdenji Robo Combattler V in its initial timeslot. The series' opening theme is titled by Mitsuko Horie, Koorogi '73, and Columbia Yurikago-kai with the ending theme titled by Ichiro Mizuki. The lyrics to opening theme were written by Toei staff with music written by Asei Kobayashi, and arranged by the series' composer, Hiroshi Takada, while the lyrics to the ending theme were penned by Akira Aoi, with music written by Asei Kobayashi, and arranged by Hiroshi Tsutsui.
The English-language dub of Voltes V was originally aired in the Philippines by GMA on May 5, 1978. The series was shown every Friday and became popular nationwide. Another English dub, written and directed by William Ross, was produced in Tokyo, Japan by Frontier Enterprises, later released in North America in 1983 by 3B Productions as Voltus 5. It was a condensed version of episodes 1, 2, 9 and 18 produced by Toei. The English-dubbed feature used the character names of the Philippine English version.
Currently, Telesuccess Productions holds the Philippine rights to the anime series. At the Otakon 2018 convention on August 13, 2018, Discotek Media announced that they licensed the series for its DVD release in North America.

Live-action drama

On December 31, 2019 during the New Year countdown program, GMA released a one-minute teaser of Voltes V: Legacy, an upcoming live action series adaptation licensed from Toei Company through its Philippine licensor Telesuccess Productions, Inc. Mark A. Reyes will be the director and lead the production of the series. Reyes revealed that he has been working for the project of Voltes V: Legacy for five years.
As confirmed by Reyes through questions from fans, GMA partnered with post-production and visual effects firm Riot Inc. Post Production for the project with approval and supervision from Toei. GMA's video graphic department will also be involved with Voltes V: Legacy.

Toys

During the series' run, Popy released a diecast metal toy of Voltes V. The toy was available either with the five Volt Machines sold separately or in a gift set known as the "Volt In Box". Aside from the Volt Machines combining to form Voltes V, the toy also transformed into Voltank mode. Voltank mode never appeared in the series, but was a unique feature of the toy. The boxed set was re-released in 1982 before being repackaged as part of Bandai's Godaikin line for the international market in 1983. Popy also released a Jumbo Machinder version of Voltes V. Standing at over 24 inches in height, the toy featured firing projectile fists and could transform into Voltank mode, which small children could ride on.
In 2006, Bandai released a newer, smaller Voltes V toy as part of their Soul of Chogokin line. This toy is more detailed and more poseable than its Popy diecast predecessor. In 2008, the toy was re-released as a special edition called "Respect for Volt In Box", which pays homage to the original toy in both color scheme and packaging. In addition, this version has been retooled to transform into Voltank mode.
In 2018, Bandai released the Soul of Chogokin Voltes V F.A. figure. The figure sacrifices its combination gimmick in favor of more anime-accurate proportions and dynamic articulation. In 2020, Bandai announced that the titular mecha will also be released under the DX Soul of Chogokin line.

Video games

The series itself is been included and featured in the long running Super Robot Wars series of video games.

Legacy in the Philippines

1979 ban and use as a protest icon

In April 1979, the authoritarian President Ferdinand Marcos issued a directive banning Voltes V and other similarly-themed anime series, ostensibly due to concerns about "excessive violence" and "harmful effects on children". This, however, led to speculations that the series was banned from broadcast due to its underlying themes of rebellion and revolution. In 2012, Marcos' son Bongbong defended his late father's decision to ban Voltes V, citing pressure from parents.
After Marcos' ouster in the February 1986 People Power Revolution, the series returned to Philippine television on multiple broadcasters, beginning with PTV and ABS-CBN in 1986, IBC in 1989, and RPN from 1988 until 1990. It returned on the original network, GMA in 1999, with the English dub aired every Friday beginning on January 15 and a Filipino/Tagalog dub airing later in December. In the same year, the last five episodes of Voltes V that were cut from broadcast due to President Marcos' ban, were compiled together and released for the first time theatrically by GMA Films under the title as "Voltes V: The Liberation".
A thirteen-foot sculpture made by Toym Leon Imao called at the time Last, Lost, Lust for Four Episodes was displayed in front of the Palma Hall at the University of the Philippines Diliman from September 20 to 28, 2014, consisting of brass, fiberglass, and galvanized iron. The sculpture was made to represent "the anger felt as a 10-year-old when Voltes V and the other robots were summarily removed from television."

Musical theme legacy

The music theme of the show is popularly remembered as a song played just before the national anthem in many schools during flag-raising ceremony. Due to popularity of the anime, Voltes V has embedded itself in Filipino pop culture. The debut album of the Filipino rock band Eraserheads is titled Ultraelectromagneticpop!, a reference to the "Ultraelectromagnetic Top" used in the series. In the GMA's comedy-gag show, Bubble Gang, its segment Ang Dating Doon top-billed by Isko "Brod Pete" Salvador used the Voltes V theme as its theme song. In 1978, the comic trio of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon, more popularly known as the TVJ trio, also made a Tagalog parody of the song, also titled as Voltes V, which is included in their album TVJ Tough Hits Vol. 4.

New Filipino dubs

In May 2006, the cable channel Hero, owned by the ABS-CBN Corporation, released the series as Voltes V Evolution with a new voice cast. In an attempt to promote the show to a younger audience, the network had Jett Pangan, Sandara Park, Dennis Trillo and other Filipino celebrities re-dub the characters' voices.
On March 27, 2017, in celebration of the anime's 40th anniversary, a new Tagalog dub of Voltes V returned to Philippine television and to GMA in the "Astig Authority" block every weekday mornings. The new voice cast features several of the network's artists such as Bea Binene, Derrick Monasterio, Jak Roberto, Hiro Peralta, and Ken Chan. The same version of the Tagalog dub of Voltes V aired again on the network on July 30, 2018.
In September 2016, a video-on-demand service, iflix began streaming all episodes of Voltes V both in English and Filipino dub.